An Arcade That Used to Be
by Omgbrookyhehe
Summary: A virus that infected the cybugs proves to be deadly in the little abandoned arcade known as Litwak's Arcade. The virus decays game characters' sanity and appearances, and Turbo and Calhoun are the only uninfected characters left. There's no hope left unless the bugs are killed off; along with their eggs.
1. Prologue

The arcade was abandoned. The games never got played anymore since the town was evacuated and left empty. There were no more gamers. Mr Litwak had left all the games plugged in, and for some odd reason there was no let up of power. The power source was always running, so the games would too.  
Things had gotten insane for the games though. And the characters. Since there were no more gamers... No more friendly faces to show up at the player screen overhead, there was no program to stick to. No more program to stick to, and each character was more careless.  
Some characters were dying outside their games.  
Visiting games other than their own and performing dangerous stunts in them was always, /always/ a hazard, and was cautioned strictly. Some would say hope was lost, and no one cared about that.  
And after the earthquake jolted through the small town, it wracked the games, and triggered a reaction that killed off Surge Protecter. And now, no one was there to protect the game enterances from viruses and glitches.  
It was all up to fate now. 


	2. How it All Began (Chapter 1)

Nothing had been the same since there had been a bomb threat in the little town. People had been quickly evacuated, and Litwak had been forced to leave the arcade. His whole adult life had been devoted to that single arcade, and all of the games were like family. The year is 2017.

Turbo was nearly across the finish line, just a few more moments and the player overhead would feel the same rush of victory that he felt. If there ever was a player, of course. Turbo just raced for fun now, and truthfully, disliked the little attention he got. The twins trailed far behind as his car bolted across the finish line, and the game transported all three of them to their rightful posts, Turbo head held high on stand #1.

He beamed up at the screen, and felt that tight knot in his stomach as the player screen stayed blank, with a forever gaze up at the ceiling.

"Turbo-Tastic!" Turbo chimed, giving a thumbs up. His arm dropped to the side as he held his trophy in one hand, glancing towards the twins on either side of him, on stands #2 and #3.

"Give it up, Turbo..." Nitro dropped his own silver trophy beside him with a 'clink', and bitterly hopped off the lower stand. Booster followed with a frown, a bronze cup in both hands. They both headed off elsewhere.

Turbo blinked at them, and rubbed his sleeve against a scuff on the trophy's golden, reflective surface. He watched his own grin fade to a frown, and grumbled, putting the winning prize down onto the stand before he jumped off. He landed hard on his feet, and brushed his jumpsuit off.

He was just going to go waste time in Tappers. That was all everyone seemed to be now a days. No more players, so no one exactly had motivation to do their job anymore. There were no more "quarter alerts" anymore, so why even bother?

After he reached Game Central Station, he was approached by Felix, who greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Hello, neighbor." He said softly. There wasn't much traffic in the Station. Only a few lone characters roamed around the huge lit main room, frowns plastered to all their faces. Life was basically miserable. No one really understood how in order gamers kept this place. Now everyone dragged themselves around like a bunch of zombies.

"Fix-it." Turbo replied singularly, continuing to make his way to Tappers. Felix wouldn't brush off easily on his own, because Turbo _hated _telling the sweet little handyman to bug off. So he allowed him to tag along, a nearly eerie silence ringing in the atmosphere.

Once they arrived in through the tunnel to the dimly lit, muggy game, Turbo hopped up onto a barstool, Felix following closely behind to sit next to him.

Tapper came over, his palms pressing to the polished surface of the counter as he awaited a request from either character.

"One root beer and a creme soda..." Turbo requested, turning his chin up at him. He knew what Felix liked, since the creme soda was non-alcoholic, and he had heard him order it every time they came here together.

Felix nodded his secondary approval, and Tapper turned to get their drinks.

It was silent for a better more moments. Felix was never this quiet. Turbo tapped his fingers on the countertop, and cleared his throat awkwardly with a slight glare. Felix gave a flinch and looked at him.

"What's up with you today, Felix? Track got your tongue?"

The handyman suddenly teared up, and threw his arms around Turbo with a quiet cry of anguish. A few other characters turned their heads to stare, and Turbo chuckled nervously and patted the other man on the back as he cried.

_'Jeeze, what's his problem?'_ He thought to himself, putting his other arm around him as well. Felix pulled back and sniffled, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Tamora!" He exclaimed, looking tearfully to Turbo. "She says all this jazz about the empty arcade is bringing her down. She wants to be alone..." Felix let himself look off to the side, rubbing his arm.

Turbo paused and a flicker of sympathy took his expression. "Gee, Fix-it. I'm sorry to hear that."

Felix was just about to speak again. Thank him for even _listening _to him. If there hadn't been a horrible rocking throughout the entirety of the arcade. Some characters cried out, sparking noises spurted here and there, and then everything became still.

Turbo had held onto the counter, and Felix had latched onto his arm for that time being. He let go when it stopped though.

Someone rushed in through the Tappers entrance with a horrified look, eyes wide and terror-stricken.

"_Surge Protector is dead!_"


End file.
